It’s no secret that Caitlin Clark is a needle mover in women’s basketball—and WNBA teams are making it clear with their business decisions.
Six teams have moved games from their home arena to ones with larger capacities after the Dallas Wings announced Wednesday that they are shifting a June 27 match-up with the Fever from College Park Center to the American Airlines Center.
These are the six teams that have moved games against the Fever:
- Atlanta Dream: one game to State Farm Arena, home of NBA’s Hawks
- Chicago Sky: two games to United Center, home of NBA’s Bulls and NHL’s Blackhawks
- Connecticut Sun: one game to TD Garden, home of NBA’s Celtics
- Dallas Wings: one game to the American Airlines Center, home of NBA’s Mavericks and NHL’s Stars
- Las Vegas Aces: one game to T-Mobile Arena, home of NHL’s Golden Knights
- Washington Mystics: two games to CFG Bank Arena
The Aces and Mystics have also moved games against other teams to larger venues. Washington has relocated one game against both Las Vegas and Chicago to EagleBank Arena, home of the George Mason men’s and women’s basketball teams, which fits 10,000 fans. Las Vegas moved two games against the Sky and one versus the Minnesota Lynx to T-Mobile Arena.
The Aces, Dream, Mystics, and Sun all moved games to larger arenas last year and set attendance records for their franchises—though Connecticut faced the Los Angeles Sparks. The bump from moved games was so large that, according to data from Across The Timeline, Washington averaged 6,541 fans and Atlanta averaged 4,743 fans per game—more than the capacities of their regular home arena.
Washington and Indiana set the single-game attendance record of 20,711 on Sept. 19 in Capital One Arena, home of the NBA’s Wizards. However, no WNBA games will be played at Capital One Arena this summer due to renovations.
The WNBA’s average attendance last year was 9,807 fans, up 48% from the 6,615 fans it averaged the previous season.
